Last
year the IRS had 99,123 refund checks totaling $153.3 million - an
average of $1547 per taxpayer - returned by the post office as
undeliverable,
primarily due to unreported changes of name and/or address,
typically after a move, marriage, death or divorce.

In addition, IRS holds a
number of refund checks that were delivered but for one reason or
another were not cashed. An estimated $500,000,000 in IRS tax refund
checks go uncashed and unpaid every year.

IRS policy is to
credit any amount due to returns filed during the succeeding three
years. If no tax returns are filed, the taxpayer's account reverts
to inactive status and is removed from the active master file.

Taxpayers
must request reissue if a tax refund check has been
lost, destroyed or voided due to the passage of time
-- US Treasury checks are generally negotiable one
year from the date of issue.